Ailing father in US to Iran president: Free my son

AP foreign, Wednesday September 25 2013

UNITED NATIONS (AP) â The ailing father of a former U.S. Marine imprisoned in Iran is pleading for the release of his son in a letter to President Hasan Rouhani, who is in New York to attend a meeting of world leaders.

"I long more than ever to see Amir's face. I am now very sick with a brain tumor," Ali Hekmati wrote in the letter, which was delivered Wednesday by an Islamic religious official from Michigan who has a personal relationship with Rouhani, a representative for the family said.

Amir Hekmati, who has dual U.S. and Iranian citizenship, was arrested in 2011 during a visit to Iran.

His family says Hekmati was visiting his grandmother, but Iran accused him of being a CIA spy and convicted him.